Starting an international cricket match with the national anthems is not a very common phenomenon, but that is exactly what is going to happen today when Bangladesh will take on Australia in the first of the three-match Commonwealth Bank one-day series at the TIO stadium in Darwin.
   Cricket officials of the Northern Territory, a fringe province of Australia of which Darwin is the capital, took the opportunity to especially honour the visiting Bangladesh, who provided them a very rare opportunity of hosting international cricket.
   The general perception in Darwin is that cricket comes here only when Bangladesh visit Australia and given the previous history of the city of 1.20 lakh one can hardly argue about it.
   In the past, Darwin has hosted just one one-day game an invariably Bangladesh were involved in it. Bangladesh were also the opponents in one of the two Tests the city has ever hosted. Sri Lanka were other team to have played a Test here.
   Karl Hampton, the sports minister of Northern Territory, therefore, has no dearth of gratitude to the Bangladeshis, who are hardly welcomed in any other major cities of Australia like Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
   But Darwin accepted them graciously and given them the honour as the highly privileged guests. This was evident on Wednesday when Hampton hosted a dinner for them in the Parliament House, an architectural beauty close to the Timor Sea.
   ‘We can see the Australian cricketers when we see the Bangladeshis here and I must thank them for it,’ Hampton said in his speech. The connotations of his words were undoubtedly melodic, but the message was clear.
   And this may be another reason why the cricket officials of the Northern Territory decided to begin the matches here with the national anthems – they wanted the Australians to feel homely here.
   Darwin is very much within the home territory of the Australian cricketers, but they have reasons for not feeling homely here. Despite being an integral part of Australia, culturally it has many differences with the mainland.
   Even the weather of Darwin is also different from the other cities of Australia. When it is winter in Sydney, Darwin is going through the summer. The temperature is now hovering over 30 degree Celsius and the sky looked crystal clear.
   Australia chose to host Bangladesh at a time when their cricket season is virtually over and the major cricket venues like SCG (Sydney), MCG (Melbourne) and WACA (Perth) are busy hosting the Australian Rules Football.
   They have no other option other than Darwin for the matches, though the city does not have a permanent cricket pitch. A local resident said they did not even watch any A-grade cricket here until Bangladesh came.

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons has challenged his side to show more consistency and trouble the world’s best teams on a more regular basis.
   Siddons, who was a prolific batsman in Australian first-class cricket for many years but never played at the top level, was speaking here Friday as his team prepared for a three-match one-day series against world champions Australia.
   The series, which will be played on drop-in wickets prepared in Queensland, was scheduled as a warm-up for the now-postponed Champions Trophy.
   Despite being without captain Ricky Ponting, opener Matthew Hayden and speedster Brett Lee, the home side is expected to be far too good.
   Bangladesh can take some heart from an upset win over Australia in Cardiff in 2005, when Siddons was an assistant coach for the Australians, but he said it was time Bangladesh became a respected foe in international cricket.
   Siddons said his team had shown it could upset the best in the world, but with just 40 wins in 184 one-day internationals they needed to do so far more often.
   ‘We always talk about the fact that we have a win here, we have a win there,’ he said.
   ‘We’re trying to be more consistently competitive. Snatching a win here and snatching a win there is not what I’m about in the future, it’s about being consistent.
   ‘Coming to Australia and everyone knowing that we can be competitive, not asking ‘Do you think you might win a game?’
   ‘How many games are you going to win?’ is what I want people to ask.’
   Bangladesh has won just one of its last 12 one-day internationals, and that was against the United Arab Emirates.
   Not since April 2007 at the World Cup, when they upset South Africa by 67 runs, have they beaten one of the premier sides in world cricket, with 24 losses in succession against Test-playing nations.
   Michael Clarke, who will lead Australia in the absence of Ponting, said the Australians would not be taking their opponents lightly.
   ‘As soon as you take things for granted I think you find yourself asking questions why you’ve lost that game,’ he said.

World No 1 Rafael Nadal wasted no time booking his place in the third round, steamrolling Ryler DeHeart while women’s top seed Ana Ivanovic became the biggest casualty of the US Open.
   French qualifier Julie Coin scored one of the most shocking upsets in Grand Slam history Thursday, sending world No 1 Ivanovic crashing out in the second round.
   Coin, who is ranked 188th in the world, was making her Grand Slam debut after successfully coming through the qualifying rounds.
   She had tried but failed earlier this year to qualify for the other three Grand Slams—Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
   The 25-year-old Coin clinched the 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win on her third match point in the one hour, 57 minute match at the main Arthur Ashe Stadium.
   ‘Today I felt nervous at the beginning and then it went away,’ said Coin. ‘I don’t know how I did it.
   ‘I am not thinking about anything right now. Just enjoying the moment.’
   Ivanovic looked like the more nervous of the two in the deciding third set. She posted a total of eight double faults and made 37 unforced errors to 26 for Coin.
   ‘This is very disappointing to me but something I have to accept,’ Ivanovic said. ‘I never saw her (Coin) play before.
   ‘She played a lot better than I expected. She served very well.’
   Coin moves through to the next round where she will play countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo.
   Ivanovic has not had a long reign at number one. Her stay at the top was interrupted for a week earlier this month, but she since regained the top spot in the WTA rankings.
   Nadal ripped returns on serves, laced passing shots, and crafted crisp volleys in a dynamic performance to beat DeHeart 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.
   ‘I did well. I had to come back in third set from down 3-0 in games so I am happy with the victory,’ Nadal said.
   ‘I am happy to be in the third round, for me this is a very important tournament.’
   Nadal, who has won eight titles this season including his fourth French Open crown and first Wimbledon trophy, has never made it past the quarter-finals at the US Open and hasn’t made it to a hardcourt Grand Slam final.
   But he looks poised to make a run this week as he smacked 21 forehand winners and made just 11 unforced errors in the one hour, 40 minute night session match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
   The 22-year-old Nadal became the first Spanish tennis player to win an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games.
   He officially became the new world number one on August 18, ending Roger Federer’s record run of 237 weeks top the ATP rankings.
   Top seed Nadal advances to the third round where he will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
   ‘He is a good player. I am going to have to play better to beat him,’ Nadal said.
   Serena and Venus Williams rolled over their opponents on Thursday with Serena defeating Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-1, 6-1 and Venus brushing aside 113th ranked Rossana De Los Rios 6-0, 6-3.
   Serena needed just 58 minutes to dispatch Vesnina who is ranked 71st in world.
   Asked if she would have preferred a more competitive match, Serena said she likes to get them over quick.
   ‘Not too many long rallies but I am serving well,’ said the fourth seeded Serena.
   The seventh-seeded Venus moves through to the third round where she will play Alona Bondarenko who beat Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
   Serena next faces Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama.
   ‘She’s pretty much relentless,’ said Serena of Sugiyama. ‘I better be ready. That girl is a tough cookie.’
   Sugiyama rallied to beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
   The Japanese men were also celebrating Thursday as Kei Nishikori advanced to the third round when Roko Karanusic, of Croatia, retired at the end of the second set with the Japanese teen leading 6-1, 7-5.
   Nishikori, who is playing in his first US Open, will face fourth seed David Ferrer, of Spain.
   ‘I tried to go to the net more often, because he was using the slice a lot,’ Nishikori said.

Julie Coin, who had to go through the qualifying rounds just to get into the US Open, made the most of her Grand Slam debut, stunning the world No 1 Ana Ivanovic on Thursday.
   The 25-year-old Frenchwoman posted one of the biggest upsets in Grand Slam history with a brilliant 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 performance to oust Ivanovic in the second round of the final major championship of the season.
   ‘I don’t realize yet that I beat the No. 1 in the world,’ Coin said. ‘I don’t realize that I played at the big court.
   ‘I don’t know how I’m going sleep tonight. Maybe tomorrow I will realize everything. Maybe at the end the tournament when I’m going to be done with it. I don’t know.’
   To get to this point in her career is not a shock to those around Coin, but people are surprised that it happened this year in New York.
   She has struggled in 2008 to qualify for WTA Tour events and says that up until Thursday she even pondered quitting professional tennis.
   She had tried but failed earlier this year to qualify for the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
   So Coin was making her Grand Slam debut after successfully coming through the qualifying round which was played earlier in the New York suburb of the Bronx.
   As early as a couple of weeks ago, she considered packing it in and trying to make use of her two college degrees—one from Clemson University in the United States and another from the University of Amiens in France.
   ‘A couple weeks ago I wasn’t playing that good and I was thinking, am I really made to play tennis?
   ‘Am I going to be able to get in the top 100 one day? Because it’s not worth it to play tennis if you’re not in the top 100.
   ‘You’re in the shadow of all the best players when you’re outside the top 100.
   ‘At one point I was thinking to maybe stop at the end of this year. So I guess maybe now I’m going to think about keeping on playing.’
   Coin’s match was originally scheduled to be played on the smaller Louis Armstrong court but at the last minute it was moved to the showcase 23,700-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium.
   The move originally didn’t sit well with the coy Coin.
   ‘I was supposed to be on Armstrong,’ she said. ‘This morning I practised on Armstrong. I never practice on the big one.
   ‘Armstrong was nice. It’s small and quiet. I was hoping I would play on this one. For the first time playing on a big court, I thought maybe it was easier to go on the smaller court. But now it’s okay.’ Indeed, Coin showed the steely nerves of a veteran, blocking out the crowd and the fact that No 188 in the world was spanking the world No. 1.
   ‘Actually it wasn’t that hard today,’ Coin said. ‘My parents and everybody were telling me beforehand to just enjoy the moment.
   ‘So I was on the court and enjoying the moment. It’s great when you play like that and you win a point and the crowd is getting all excited. After the match point everyone is screaming.
   ‘I mean, that doesn’t happen every day, so it was pretty good.’
   Ivanovic said Coin had nothing to lose and played like it.
   ‘When girls play against higher-ranked players and they have nothing to lose so they go for their shots,’ Ivanovic said. ‘Many times they play matches of their life.
   ‘They feel no pressure and they’re so relaxed. She managed to stay calm and to play the same until the end.’

Steve Harmison has hit back at accusations that he only returned to England’s one-day team to cash in on the huge sums of money flooding into the game.
   Harmison, 29, reversed his decision to retire from the one-day international arena last Thursday and marked his return to the side by taking two wickets in England’s wins against South Africa at Headingley and then Trent Bridge.
   It has been suggested that Harmison has opted to come back for financial reasons with the money-spinning Stanford Series due to start in October, but the Durham star is adamant that is not the case.
   ‘Everyone is talking about it saying he has come back for the money, but I have come back for cricketing,’ Harmison told Sky Sports News.
   ‘It feels like I’ve been criticised for everything, even for changing my socks. I’ve come back for cricketing reasons only.
   ‘It was an interesting three or four days leading up to the series. I never thought I’d be anywhere near the games.
   ‘They asked me where I was going to be in the winter and then I got a phone call saying Ryan Sidebottom was injured and they needed somebody, so I said why not? I’d never let them down.
   ‘It’s not up to me if I play in the Stanford series. I made my feelings clear to the coach and captain.’
   Harmison claimed family issues were among the reasons why he originally decided to retire in 2006 and he only returned after speaking to wife.
   ‘I only agreed to come back after speaking to my wife and children. They were the first people I spoke to,’ Harmison said.
   ‘Things have got a bit more stable with the family issues now. There probably have been 10, 12 or 15 players that have been in the same boat and they haven’t been as honest as I have been about it.’

New Zealand will face India and the West Indies in two home series in the coming season, taking on both teams in two Tests and five one-day internationals.
   New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said Friday both teams would provide a good measure of where New Zealand was placed in world cricket.
   ‘It will be nice to face the contrasting styles of the West Indies and India this summer,’ Vettori said.
   ‘They are two teams who are both on the rise, and they will provide a good measure of where we are at in our own development.’
   In Test cricket New Zealand currently rank a lowly seventh, four places behind India but one ahead of the West Indies. But in one-day internationals, New Zealand are third, one place ahead of India and five in front of the West Indies.
   New Zealand Cricket said the West Indies were due to arrive in December, playing two Tests ahead of two Twenty20 games and five one-day internationals.
   India arrive in March for a Twenty20 match, followed by five one dayers and two Tests.
   
   West Indies tour
   Dec 5-7 v Auckland, Auckland
   Dec 11-15, first Test, Dunedin
   Dec 19-23, 2nd Test, Napier
   Dec 26, Twenty20 international, Auckland
   Dec 28, Twenty20 international, Hamilton
   Dec 31, First one day international, Queenstown
   Jan 3, Second one day international, Christchurch
   Jan 7, Third one day international, Wellington
   Jan 10, Fourth one day international, Auckland
   Jan 13, Fifth one day international, Napier
   
   India tour
   March 6, Twenty20 international, Wellington
   March 8, First one day international, Napier
   March 11, Second one day international, Hamilton
   March 14, Third one day international, Auckland
   March 17, Fourth one day international, Wellington
   March 20, Fifth one day international, Christchurch
   March 22-24, v New Zealand XI, Lincoln University
   March 26-30, First Test, Hamilton
   April 3-7, Second Test, Wellington

Narinda Pragati Boys Club clinched the title of the Cute Premier Division Handball League defeating Old Ideals Club 29-17 in the title-deciding match at the Outer Stadium handball ground on Friday. The winners led the first half 19-9.
   Narinda Pragati earned 18 points from six matches while, Old Ideals collected 15.
   Saidur scored seven goals for the champions and was adjudged man of the match. Mamun netted 10 goals for Old Ideals.
   Registrar of Cooperatives department M Masud Elahi distributed the prizes as the chief guest. Handball Federation general secretary Asaduzzaman Kohinoor was also present.

Biman Bangladesh clinched the Men’s team event title of the Federation Cup Invitational Table Tennis defeating Pabna 3-1 in the final held at the Paltan Ground wooden floor gymnasium on Friday.
   Edison and Manosh of Biman won their respective matches to lift the title for Biman.
   However, Biman was defeated by Abahani in the Women’s team event when the Abahani paddlers registered a 3-0 victory. Shoma, Saleha and Joyoti overpowered Rumi, Snigdha and Turbina in straight sets.

Nababpur Government High School faces Rahmatullah Model High School in the first semi-final of the Diamond Melamine School Rugby at the Paltan Ground today. In the other semi-final of the day St Gregory’s School meet Islambagh Ashraf Ali High School at the same venue.
   In the last day of the group matches, St Gregory’s School defeated Hammadia High School 5-0, Nababpur High School beat Narinda Government High School 13-3 and Islambagh Ashraf Ali High School trounced Hard to Reach School 5-0.

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is confident of getting over her current injury crisis and bouncing back into the top 50 soon with the help of a new trainer.
   Mirza, 21, slipped from a career-best high of 27 in August last year to 70 in the latest WTA rankings after an injury-plagued season in 2008.
   ‘It is naturally very frustrating for her to miss tournaments,’ Mirza’s father, Imran Mirza, told AFP from the family base in Hyderabad on Friday.
   ‘But she understands injuries are a tennis player’s professional hazard and part and parcel of a sportsman’s career.
   ‘She is very positive and looking forward to bounce back soon,’ he said.
   Mirza injured her right wrist during the Indian Wells tournament in March and was forced to have surgery a month later.
   She pulled out of the French Open in May-June, lost in the second round at Wimbledon and crashed out in the first round at the Beijing Olympics.
   Mirza, who also withdrew from the ongoing US Open, has signed up trainer Amir Takla, a consultant with Tennis Australia.
   ‘Takla is scheduled to arrive this weekend and will work with Sania for a period of six weeks,’ father Imran said.
   ‘The goal is to ensure her wrist recovers to its original strength, but at the same time the focus will also be towards optimising her overall physical fitness.’
   Imran refused to set a date for her return to the circuit, saying it was too early to predict.
   ‘It is difficult to fix a timeframe for being back in competition even before work towards her rehabilitation has begun,’ he said.
   ‘But we are looking at Sania playing a few tournaments later in the year to prepare for next year’s Australian Open.’

Top seed Ana Ivanovic felt the sting of an inspired underdog in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 second-round loss to unheralded Frenchwoman Julie Coin on a turbulent Thursday at the US Open.
   Ivanovic put her world number 1 ranking in serious danger with her loss, the first time in the post-1968 modern era that the top woman at the event has gone out before the third round.
   Ivanovic’s fall duplicated the second-round exit of Billie Jean King to Australian Kerry Melville in 1966.
   Ivanovic took it all in her stride. ‘When girls play against higher-ranked players, they have nothing to lose so they go for their shots,’ said the 20-year-old Roland Garros champion and Australian open runner-up to Maria Sharapova.
   ‘Many times they play matches of their life. Not only in women’s tennis. She managed to stay calm and to play the same until the end.’
   Ivanovic said that the thumb injury which sent her from a Beijing Olympic withdrawal to a doctor in Australia before arriving in New York, had nothing to do with her defeat.
   ‘Today I didn’t feel it (thumb). I’m just happy to be back on track without pain.
   ‘Now all I have to do is put some hard yards on the court and go back out there and work hard.’
   The Serb will be driven to try and retain the top WTA ranking in the face of a chase from five others players. The results of the rest of the pack for the rest of the fortnight will determine the final outcome of the ranking struggle.
   ‘I think I deserve that position,’ she said. ‘I won a Grand Slam and I was playing really well.
   ‘Obviously I’m not playing like a number 1 now, probably not.
   ‘But I can’t judge that because I really haven’t had chance to practice. This loss is just an incentive to work harder.
   ‘I have the possibility to maintain number 1 for a long time and to win (another) Grand Slam. I was just a little unfortunate with injury, and I just have to go back on the court and keep working hard.’

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes clubs who risk financial meltdown in the pursuit of success should be kicked out of Europe competitions.
   UEFA president Michel Platini has launched a probe into the high level of debt carried by some clubs and claims they are ‘cheating’ by purchasing players they simply cannot afford.
   Wenger agrees with his fellow Frenchman’s assessment and, while he didn’t name individual clubs, he clearly had Manchester United and Chelsea - who have a combined debt of 1.5 billion pounds between them - in his sights as he demanded harsh penalties from UEFA.
   ‘I think teams who have deficits should be kicked out of Europe,’ Wenger said.
   ‘The only way to go is that there is a control over all of Europe and I think it will go that way whether you like it or not.
   ‘UEFA will bring in a control of the management of every individual club and every individual club will be controlled.
   ‘It is very important for the fans of the competition first, and it is very important that every club lives with the resources they have available - clubs should not speculate and then after one year they cannot pay the salaries for the next seasons.
   ‘Every transfer nowadays in Europe is paid over two or three years, and it is compulsory that UEFA controls that the commitment of the club is right, because if that does not happen, it can all collapse very quickly.’
   While Roman Abramovich’s millions have allowed Chelsea to buy virtually any player in the world, Wenger has always operated a more frugal transfer policy.
   Even now, with Arsenal director Danny Fiszman maintaining that the board would back their manager if he wanted to splash 30 million pounds (37 million euros) on one player, Wenger still shys away from making the kind of big-money buy that Chelsea and United specialise in.
   ‘I buy the players I feel strengthen the squad, after that I consider the price,’ he said.
   ‘I do the job I think it has to be done, considering the resources of the club and considering our ambition, and the players we have.
   ‘I know the media and supporters sometimes too are happy with big numbers, but for me what is most important is big quality. Sometimes both are linked, but not always.’
   However Wenger does want another midfielder and a move for either Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso or Udinese’s Swiss playmaker Gokhan Inler remains possible before Monday’s transfer deadline.
   ‘Last year it was at midnight - and we are ready to stay up all night this time if it is needed,’ he said. ‘We have still a long time to go.
   ‘For a while they all talk the talk and nothing happens, then in the last four or five days every half-an-hour there is a headline saying someone has signed somewhere.
   ‘When you have experience of transfer dealings, you know that as long as something is not signed you know it can change very quickly so you can look very silly, so you don’t want to come out and announce it.’
   ‘We are out to look, if we find the right players we will do it, one or two.
   ‘However, I believe it’s more interesting for us to focus on our strengths and quality rather than looking outside. I know it makes headlines, but it doesn’t make you win games.’

Everton will head up a raft of English Premier League clubs going into the first round of the UEFA Cup, hoping to end an eight-year wait to bring the trophy back to British shores.
   Aston Villa, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Tottenham and the Blues had mixed fortunes in Friday’s draw in Monaco, with some coaches fancying their lot more than others.
   Everton will play Standard Liege looking to go one better than city rivals Liverpool - the last British club to take home the trophy when they beat Deportivo Alaves 5-4 in an epic encounter in 2001.
   And it will be the second time the Belgian champions have travelled to Merseyside, after narrowly losing out to Liverpool in the second qualifying round of the Champions League midweek.
   David Moyes, who steered Everton to the last 16 in last year’s competition, will be boosted by news that Manchester United’s French striker Louis Saha is set to join the Goodison Park team.
   After a poor performance against Denmark’s diminutive Midtjyllandin on Wednesday, Mark Hughes’ Manchester City will have to roll their sleeves up to see off Cyprus side Omonia Nicosia.
   Meanwhile Tottenham, who have won the competition twice since the early 1970s, have a potentially tricky home tie against Polish first division champions Wisla Krakow.
   Aston Villa, who cooly disposed of Icelandic outfit Hafnarfjordur with a 5-2 aggregate win, have drawn relative unknowns Bulgaria’s Litex Lovetch, but wily Martin O’Neill is sure to take the challenge seriously.
   Villa star Gareth Barry said he was delighted to be playing in Europe, adding it was good for the club and supporters’ morale.
   ‘It’s important for this club to be back in the UEFA Cup. It’s nice for the fans to experience European football again,’ he told the club’s website Friday.
   ‘This is a big tie for us because we are aiming to get into the group stages.’
   Aston Villa will hope that new signing from Newcastle United James Milner can make an instant impact on the European stage.
   Portsmouth will fancy their chances against up-and-coming Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes while Motherwell take on French side Nancy - who finished fourth in the league - confident of an upset.
   Scottish sides have done well in the tournament of late with Celtic reaching the final in 2003 under O’Neill and Rangers running out second to last year’s winners Zenit St Petersburg.
   Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp warned against complacency and urged his players to concentrate on league matters for now.
   ‘It is not an easy draw. They are a good side. The Portuguese league is a tough one with teams like FC Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica - but Vitoria finished third last season so they can’t be bad,’ he said.
   ‘It is a big thing for this club to be in Europe and we are looking forward to it - but we’ve got several important Premier League games before that and we’ll focus on those first.’
   Former England boss Steve McClaren will also taste the flavour of France when his Dutch side FC Twente face Rennes.
   The top-rated side in the draw will be Italy’s AC Milan, Champions League winners in 2007, who will go up against FC Zurich.
   The UEFA first round ties will be played on September 18 and October 2.

For a player looking ahead into the tennis future, James Blake seems to be finding it tough to let go of the past.
   Especially when he feels it might have cost him an Olympic medal in Beijing.
   ‘It’s not my problem anymore,’ the American said of his controversial 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 Olympic semi-final loss to Fernando Gonzalez a day after upsetting Roger Federer at the Summer Games.
   ‘What’s done is done, I’ve moved past it.’
   The American is noted as best-behaved on court, but at the time he did not spare his temper in defeat.
   Blake accused Gonzalez of not admitting that a return from the American touched his racket before landing out on a late point in a three-hour drama which went to the South American after a ruling from referee Carlos Berardo.
   Blake still blisters at what might have been.
   ‘Whatever gets him to sleep at night is fine,’ he said of Chile’s Gonzalez, ‘If he says after three hours he can’t feel a ball hitting his racquet, then apparently every fifth set he’s ever played he can’t feel the ball.
   ‘Whatever he wants to say or needs to say, that’s up to him. It’s the past. If you let someone else get to you in the past you’re not dealing with the present.’
   Blake put a bright face on the remainder of his Beijing experience as the ranking American man in the field after the absence of Andy Roddick.
   ‘You’re in a stadium full of 20,000 people - I’m not going to let one point change my Olympic experience.
   ‘I was proud to be a part of Team USA, part of the effort put forth by all the Olympians, proud of all the hard work and sacrifice they made to get there and compete at the highest level and do it fairly, cleanly, and with everything to be proud of.’
   Blake pronounced himself ‘really happy about my Olympic experience.’
   ‘I wouldn’t change it for anything. I wish I had gotten the medal to bring home to the States, but I can hold my head high saying I did everything I could.’

Success has come at a price for village club 1899 Hoffenheim, the unlikely leaders of Germany’s top soccer league.
   Dedicated fans were elated in May when their team, from a village near Heidelberg with a population of just 3,200, won promotion to the Bundesliga, topping a meteoric rise from the third division in just two seasons.
   And this season has been even better. After two wins in two games, Hoffenheim have leapt to the top of the Bundesliga, overtaking giants like Bayern Munich.
   But the fairy tale, made possible by copious cash injections from patron Dietmar Hopp, a local millionaire who co-founded Europe’s biggest software company SAP, has sparked envy and loathing among rival supporters.
   Borussia Moenchengladbach fans chanted ‘Dietmar Hopp, son of a whore’ at last Saturday’s match, forcing club president Rolf Koenigs to apologise for their behaviour.
   Hoffenheim’s story has also highlighted the relative cash shortages faced by many top German clubs which have been struggling to compete with teams in England, Spain and Italy.
   In Sinsheim, the town in the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg to which Hoffenheim belongs, the streets are decked out in the team’s blue and white flags and banners.
   ‘Football euphoria has been unleashed, even among people who weren’t very interested in soccer before,’ Rolf Geinert, mayor of Sinsheim, told Reuters.
   Locals are savouring the moment.
   ‘It’s like a dream, we can barely believe it,’ said Thomas Schmitz-Guenther of a fan club in nearby Neckertal.
   ‘Playing in the Bundesliga is like being a teenager invited to your older brother’s party with girls for the first time.’
   But Hoffenheim have had a less-than-friendly reception.
   ‘Envy and hatred follows us wherever we go. We’ve been voted Germany’s most unpopular club,’ said Schmitz-Guenther.
   Money is the main reason, alongside a sense among Germany’s long-established clubs that a spot in the venerable Bundesliga must be earned through years of sweat and tears.
   Fans admit the team’s success is a result of the millions of euros Hopp has pumped into the club since the early 1990s.
   The 68-year-old local has enabled the club he used to play for to splash out on players and staff like Brazilian midfielder Carlos Eduardo for eight million euros ($11.8 million) and coach Ralf Rangnick, a former boss of Stuttgart and Schalke.
   Seen by critics as equivalent to Chelsea’s tycoon Russian owner Roman Abramovich, Hopp is also funding the construction of a 30,000-seat stadium due to be completed early next year. Its current ground holds just 5,000.
   ‘A lot of people think a millionaire has injected a lot of money into the club and without that they wouldn’t be where they are now,’ said Christian Thiele, a diehard Bayern Munich fan.
   ‘They have to prove themselves to earn respect. It’s like the envy people have for rich new kids on the block.’
   His defenders say Hopp has pursued a long-term strategy designed to develop a sustainable team built on young players rather than splurging on a few big talents.
   Hopp, who expects Hoffenheim to be financially independent in a few years, is also committed to his own region. Mayor Geinert says the new stadium will bring jobs and prosperity.
   The obvious benefits of cash at Hoffenheim underscore the challenges facing other Bundesliga clubs which are short of the kind of money enjoyed by the big teams in countries like Britain.
   Experts blame German clubs’ failure to win big international trophies in recent years at least partly on their inability to compete for the best international players.
   Last season, three of the four semi-finalists and the two finalists in the lucrative Champions League were English.
   ‘Apart from Bayern Munich, German clubs do not pay the wages needed to attract top-flight players who mainly go to England,’ said Sebastian Hein, an analyst specialising in the soccer industry, at Germany’s Bankhaus Lampe.
   One reason for this is that German rules forbid individual investors from taking a majority stake in clubs, which makes it impossible for figures like Abramovich to buy a team here.
   In addition, income from television rights, put by Hein at about 400 million euros a year for German clubs, is about 300 million euros less a year than for English teams.

The first leg of the Beijing 2008
   Paralympic torch relay was held in Xi’an on Friday, where seventy carriers braved a raining weather to pass the flame in an inspiring way.
   The early-morning mist shrouding the city turned into drizzle when the 3,100-meter long relay swung into action along a 15-meter wide path on the top of the imposing ancient wall, which offered a fantastic bird’s eye view of the city with immense cultural heritage. The relay produced the most inspiring moment when No. 30 carrier Yan Yubin, with the help of a crutch, shuffled his left foot and limped forward holding high the flame.
   The 47-year-old man, who was an owner of a hospital, had an atrophied left leg from infantile paralysis, but he refused to carried the torch on a wheelchair.
   ‘I had to prove I can walk myself. I must cover the most glorious 45-meter distance in my life with my own feet,’ he said.
   ‘For those disabled persons like me, they cannot give up efforts to overcome their disablities. They must make them useful to the society,’ he added.
   For No. 39 carrier Dong Yinglong, the relay meant something very special for him.
   ‘Today is my 70th birthday, there could have been no better a gift than to run the relay,’ he said.
   The relay reached a climactic cresendo when the last torchbearer Li Huimin lighted the cauldron symbolising the conclusion of this leg of the torch relay. The crowd burst into cheers and applause when they saw the cauldron was set aflame.
   Despite a less agreeable weather, Zhang Ming, deputy director of the Beijing Paralympic Torch Relay Center, was rather satisfied with the organisation of the relay.
   ‘The local organisers put in a lot of efforts to make it a success. This marks an auspicious beginning for the whole torch relay campaign. They held the relay on the top of the wall, this is a very potent way to demonstrate their magnificent city,’ she said.
   As one of the most important cities in Chinese history, Xi’an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, because it, under various names, has been the capital of 13 dynasties, including the Zhou, Qin, Han, the Sui, and the Tang. Xi’an, with more than 3,100 years of history, is also renowned for being the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and for the location of the Terracotta Army, made during the Qin Dynasty.

Inter Milan’s star Sweden forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic says the champions are still the team to beat ahead of the Serie A kick-off this weekend.
   Inter have won the last three titles but AS Roma pushed them to the wire last season and AC Milan have recruited well during the off season, bringing in Ronaldinho, Andrei Shevchenko, Gianluca Zambrotta and Mathieu Flamini, as well as Swiss defender Philippe Senderos on loan.
   But Ibra insists that with Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho at the helm, Inter will still finish top of the tree.
   Asked if Milan, Juventus and Roma would present the toughest opposition this season, Ibra told Gazzetta dello Sport: ‘I also like Fiorentina but everyone will finish behind us. Inter are still the best.’
   Inter open their campaign with a tricky trip to Sampdoria tonight and are sure to be caused problems by Italy forward Antonio Cassano.
   Milan have a less demanding challenge in a home match against newly-promoted Bologna while Roma host Napoli.
   Both sides will be desperate to get off to a winning start to ensure they don’t cede any early ground to Inter.
   Milan scuppered their own title hopes last season by failing to win any of their first seven home league matches.
   That, coupled with their participation in both the European Supercup and Club World Cup, meant that by Christmas they were already more than 20 points off the pace and with a fixture backlog facing them in January and February.
   Roma’s title hopes the last two seasons, in which they have finished both as bridesmaids, have been dented by dropping points against so called lesser teams so Luciano Spalletti will be hoping his new signings Julio Baptista and Jeremy Menez gel quickly, particularly with talisman Francesco Totti out of their Serie A opener.
   The match of the weekend will take place in Florence where Juventus will be the visitors to Fiorentina.
   Both sides have been in early action this season as they have already played two Champions League third qualifying round matches, with both securing their passage to the lucrative group stages.
   Both sides will have to readjust quickly, though, as they were celebrating midweek.
   Juve have strengthened their ranks by signing Brazilian forward Amauri and Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen while Fiorentina’s major activity in the transfer market was to fend off interest from Roma for their Romania striker Adrian Mutu.
   Five teams will begin the season believing they can challenge for the title but Ibrahimovic insists that with Mourinho leading them Inter are going to be even more difficult to beat than before.
   ‘He’s the most complete coach I’ve ever had, on the pitch and off it,’ said the Swede. ‘He’s meticulous about every little detial, with us and it seems also with journalists.
   ‘I heard him talking when he was at Chelsea and after one and a half months of knowing him I’ve only positive things to say.
   ‘You can see straight away the difference to other coaches. Now there’s a new spirit, the team has more confidence in itself.’
   Newly-promoted Chievo host Reggina while fellow newboys Lecce face a trip to Torino.

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho cannot wait to get started after his side drew Germans Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos of Greece and Cyprus’s Anorthosis Famagusta in Thursday’s Champions League group stage draw.
   Italian champions Inter will be one of the favourites for this season’s competition but Mourinho dismissed the relevance of the draw, despite what seems on paper an easy task for his side.
   ‘The draw is the draw, there’s nothing to do about it,’ he said. ‘Even after seeing the teams we will play, you don’t know if it will be an easy or difficult first phase.
   ‘Our first objective is to get to the next phase, the second is to try to do so as Group B winners.
   ‘Of course we’re really motivated and confident, we want to start playing the Champions League as soon as possible.’
   Juventus were given one of the hardest possible draws with Spanish champions Real Madrid, UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg and rank outsiders BATE Borisov from Belarus.
   Juve’s French administrator Jean-Claude Blanc admitted the Italian giants were just relieved to be back at this stage after a two-year absence.
   ‘For us it’s great to be welcomed back to the Champions League with a classic encounter against Real Madrid,’ he said.
   ‘But there’s also Zenit, who represent the progression of East European teams. Our players need to remember that they’re playing at the highest level and that Juve are back!’
   AS Roma have a tough draw with last season’s runners-up Chelsea as well as Bordeaux of France and Romanians Cluj but coach Luciano Spalletti said he was happy with that.
   ‘It seems like a good group to me, certainly an interesting one,’ he said.
   Roma were always going to draw one of the continent’s big teams - just as they did last season when they were pooled with Manchester United - as they were only in the second pot. Spalletti admitted that Chelsea will start as favourites.
   ‘That team has something extra. However, we’ve attained a certain level over the last few years and I think that’s something the players should cherish like a treasure,’ he said.
   Fiorentina, who were in the fourth pot of teams - those ranked lowest by UEFA - have a difficult proposition with French champions Lyon, German champions Bayern Munich and Romanians Steaua Bucharest in their group.
   It means a return to Florence for Bayern Munich’s Italy forward Luca Toni.
   ‘We’re going to face someone we know very well,’ said Fiorentina centre-back Alessandro Gamberini, who believes his team can match the others in their group.
   ‘We’re not starting out already beaten, we’ll fight to prove that we’re also a good team,’ he said. ‘Even so, it would be a great achievement to get to the next round.’

Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann said he was relishing his first foray into the Champions League after the German giants drew Olympique Lyon, Fiorentina and Steaua Bucharest in the group stages.
   Bayern last lifted the Champions League trophy in 2001, but were back in the pot for Thursday night’s Champions League group-stage draw in Monte Carlo after spending last season in the UEFA Cup.
   Having dominated German domestic football last season, Bayern’s bosses want them to be one of the side’s contesting the final in Rome’s Olympic Stadium on May 27.
   And for Bayern’s Italian striker Luca Toni, the draw means a return to his former club Fiorentina on November 5.
   ‘This group has plenty in it,’ said Klinsmann after hearing Bayern’s Group F opponents.
   ‘Lyon will be a hurdle to overcome, Fiorentina has its attraction because of Luca Toni, it will no doubt be a very exciting affair.’
   But Bayern chairman of the board Karl-Heinz Rummenigge warned against taking any of their opponents lightly.
   He said: ‘This is a group no one should underestimate, but the match against Fiorentina will be delicacy for Luca Toni and our fans.’
   There is no lacking for confidence in Bayern’s ranks. ‘We are FC Bayern, we will go far,’ said their French midfielder Franck Ribery, who is hoping to have recovered from his ankle injury in time for Bayern’s first game on September 17 at Steaua Bucharest.
   ‘I would not have prefered to play against a big club like Chelsea, Manchester or Arsenal - it’s good to play Lyon. From my own experience, I know what they are like.’
   Meanwhile, Werder Bremen will be taking a trip into the unknown in Group B where they face Greek side Panathinaikos and Anorthosis Famagusta from Cyprus as well as Italian giants Inter Milan.
   Famagusta became Cyprus’s first Champions League group stage representatives after completing a 3-1 aggregate victory against Olympiakos.
   Bremen’s director of football Klaus Allofs said their group was interesting, if not spectacular.
   ‘I would be a liar, if I said we could not solve this task,’ said Allofs, pointing to Inter as their biggest obstacle to the knock-out stages.
   ‘We are happy. Even if the group does not appear spectacular on the first view, it is interesting.
   ‘Inter Milan is a big challenge and the Greeks can be very hard to beat.
   ‘Our fans will experience a first against Famagusta, so the group is not without its attractions.’
   Bremen begin their Champions League quest on September 16 at home to Famagusta and finish in Bremen on December 9 against Inter.
   Bayern and Bremen are Germany’s only Champions League representatives after Schalke 04 were humbled 4-0 at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night which puts them in the UEFA Cup next season.

Celtic striker Scott McDonald can’t wait to savour the Battle of Britain atmosphere after his side were pitted against Manchester United in Thursday’s draw for the Champions League group stages.
   Gordon Strachan’s Scottish champions will face Champions League holders United in Group E and Australian star McDonald is already counting down the days to the first clash.
   It will be the second time in three years that the teams have met in Europe but McDonald was a Motherwell player in 2006-07 so this is his first taste of the unique occasion.
   ‘They are going to be fantastic games. The rivalry is there between Scotland and England. We played against them a couple of years ago and got a victory. It promises to be a great atmosphere in both games,’ he told Sky Sports News.
   ‘Our home form is very good, it’s just our away form that has been very poor. If we can get that right it will go a long way to getting through to the next round.’
   Manchester United chief executive David Gill believes United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will be delighted with the draw.
   ‘Everyone’s pretty pleased,’ he said. ‘We don’t have to travel far and the fixtures have fallen nicely. We’ve got a home game against Villarreal in between the games against Liverpool and Chelsea.
   ‘I remember the last game at Celtic distinctly. They beat us to qualify and the atmosphere from their fans was unbelievable. They will be two huge games.’
   Celtic’s chairman John Reid has already set his sights on meeting United again in the latter stages.
   ‘It’s a big one. We seem to make a habit of drawing the European champions,’ he said. ‘We’ve had Man Utd, AC Milan and Barcelona three years in a row. There’s no free passes in Europe but it’s great for the fans.
   ‘Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we could get through and meet United later on in the competition.’
   Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry believes Fernando Torres’s return to Atletico Madrid will be the centre of attention in League Group D.
   Torres moved to Anfield from Atletico last year and enjoyed a superb first season in the Premier League.
   Now he gets the chance to show his former club what they lost in a pair of matches that will also send Liverpool’s Spanish boss Rafa Benitez back home.
   ‘With our Spanish contigent that will be a couple of very big games and there will be a lot of attention focused on those,’ Parry said.
   ‘They’ve got some very good players and if there’s one team in the last pot we didn’t want to sign it was them.’
   Liverpool also face Marseille, who won at Anfield last season, and Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.
   ‘We know all of the teams quite well for different reasons,’ Parry said. ‘It’s not easy but there’s no challenging trips.’
   Chelsea secretary David Barnard claimed his club’s stars have made Champions League victory their top priority this season.
   The Blues, who lost in the final to United last season, face Roma, Bordeaux and Romanian club CFR Cluj in Group A.
   ‘If you come down to the training ground you will see the boys are totally focused on the Champions League,’ Barnard said. ‘We have always been the bridesmaids. We’ve been to four semi-finals and a final. We want to go one better this year.’
   ‘It’s an interesting draw. A bit of mixed bag. The Romanian team is interesting because I’m not aware of them. We’ll have to do our homework.’
   Arsenal director Danny Fiszman admitted Arsene Wenger will be unhappy with the draw as it sends the Gunners on two long trips to Fenerbahce in Turkey and Dynamo Kiev in the Ukraine.
   Fiszman, whose side also face Porto in Group G, said: ‘One of the issues for Arsene is the distances we have to travel. They are long trips and he prefers more local matches so we get back a little sooner.
   ‘We are used to it but that is the only disappointment.’

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari admits he is in the dark over his club’s bid to sign Brazil winger Robinho from Real Madrid.
   Scolari made Robinho his top transfer target when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in July but Chelsea have been unable to seal the deal.
   The Premier League club have had a bid turned down by Real, who are adamant Robinho will remain at the Bernabeu even though the player is keen to move to England.
   The 22-year-old trained with Real on Friday and Scolari admitted he has no idea whether Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon will be able to conclude the deal before the transfer window closes on Monday.
   ‘I don’t know about Robinho because it is not my job to enter into talks about players,’ he said. ‘I said something to Peter a month ago and they tried to bring Robinho here but my job is on the pitch.
   ‘If they can bring him here it will be down to board meetings and I have to think about Tottenham not about whether players have come or have not come.
   ‘I don’t know anything because I have not spoken to Peter for the last two days.’
   Scolari was no doubts that Robinho would be a valuable addition to his squad but the Brazilian coach has focus on Sunday’s match against Tottenham while Kenyon and Chelsea board handle the negotiations.
   ‘He is a very good player but it is not only me that wants him, all the coaches in the world do too,’ Scolari said.
   ‘But at the moment what is happening on the pitch is the only important thing for me. For my players to play well against Tottenham is what matters.’

Dimitar Berbatov could still stay at Tottenham despite the Bulgaria striker’s determination to join Manchester United, according to the club’s sporting director Damien Comolli.
   Berbatov was left out of the Spurs squad for last weekend’s defeat against Sunderland after handing in a transfer request, but he has been training with the team this week and Comolli insisted boss Juande Ramos has no desire to lose his star striker.
   Asked if Berbatov would still be at Spurs when the transfer window closes, Comolli told Sky Sports News: ‘I hope so, of course.
   ‘He’s a very good player and, as Juande (Ramos) has said many times, we’re delighted he’s with us.
   ‘I don’t really want to comment about speculation, but we just hope he’s going to stay.’
   Even if Berbatov does stay, Tottenham appear to be pressing ahead with their bid to sign Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was pictured arriving at London’s Heathrow airport on Friday.
   Comolli refused to be drawn on that transfer and added: ‘We will comment and will let you know when we’ve got news.’

Liverpool’s plan to build a new stadium suffered another blow on Friday as the Premier League club announced the project has been delayed again.
   Work on the new ground, which would be built adjacent to the club’s current Anfield home, has already been put back several times while the Stanley Park scheme was redesigned.
   Now Liverpool’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are struggling to raise funds for the 400 million pounds (490 million euros) development while the global credit crunch takes its toll on their finances.
   ‘Our commitment to building a new world-class LFC stadium is undiminished. Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas we are affected by global market conditions and as such work on the project will be delayed in the short term,’ the statement read.
   ‘We will use this period productively and revisit the plans for the stadium to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats.’
   The latest blow comes just a day after it was revealed that European Union grants to fund re-generation of the Anfield area had been withdrawn.
   The cash is not a huge amount of the great scheme of things at Anfield, but it was a significant blow to the credibility of the Americans’ plans.
   The money had been earmarked by the European Regional Development Fund for a community partnership centre as part of the new stadium.
   But the timescale involved meant the money had to be re-allocated last November and the stadium centre will now have to be fully funded by Liverpool FC.

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan has said he is looking forward to another Champions League clash with old rivals Manchester United but he believes they will be even harder to beat than before.
   The two sides last met in the tournament two years ago and on that occasion the honours were shared with each side claiming a home win.
   ‘So it’s Man United? Here we go again!’ said Strachan who counts the Old Trafford outfit among his former clubs as a player.
   ‘Oh well, if you’re going to play in the Champions League you might as well come up against the Champions League champions. It doesn’t get any easier does it?
   ‘You have to be honest about it and say this is an even stronger Manchester United than the Manchester United we faced two years ago.
   ‘This time they are champions of Europe and champions of England. They are a better team now and that will make our job even harder.’

Holders Manchester United were drawn with Scottish champions Celtic, Spain’s Villarreal and Denmark’s Aalborg in Thursday’s draw in Monaco for this season’s Champions League group phase.
   United, who also won the English Premiership title, were drawn in Group E while Chelsea will meet AS Roma, Bordeaux of France and Romanian debutants Cluj in Group A.
   Adding to the flavour of home and away ‘Battle of Britain’ clashes will be the fact that Celtic are coached by Gordon Strachan, who was a player under United boss Sir Alex Ferguson both at Old Trafford and Aberdeen beforehand.
   The clubs also met in the Champions League group stages two seasons ago. Celtic edged their home game 1-0 and United won theirs 3-2.
   Liverpool, who edged into the pool phase with a 1-0 win over Belgium’s Standard Liege on Wednesday, will take on Spain’s Atletico Madrid, who looked sharp in knocking out Germany’s Schalke 04, as well as Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven and also Marseille of France, whom they met last year, in Group D.
   Rafa Benitez’s side have made a slow start to the season but have won their opening two Premiership fixtures despite not clicking into top gear.
   Heading to Atletico means a trip to his former club for Reds’ striker Fernando Torres as the hitman nicknamed El Nino seeks to blow away his old team-mates at the Vicente Calderon stadium.
   ‘The important thing is making a good start. We took one point from the first three games last season and we’ve got to do better,’ former star Phil Thompson told Liverpool’s official website.
   But they will be mindful of their Anfield meeting against Marseille last year when the French won 1-0 only to lose the return at the Velodrome as Benitez and company swept them aside 4-0.
   Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry told the BBC, ‘There are no easy games – you just take it as it comes. We are just delighted to be in it.’
   Marseille chairman Pape Diouf was cautious. ‘We know it won’t be easy but we know Liverpool from playing them last year. That could be an advantage for us – but also for them.’
   England’s other participants, 2006 finalists Arsenal, will face a trip to Fenerbahce in Turkey, to Portugal to meet Porto and Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine in Group G.
   In Group B, Italian champions Inter Milan will take on seasoned German campaigners Werder Bremen, Greek side Panathinaikos and Cypriots Anorthosis.
   Barcelona, champions in 1992 and 2006, will meet Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon, FC Basel of Switzerland and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine in Group C.
   In Group F, serial French champions Lyon, who have yet to make a major impression in Europe despite their domestic dominance, will meet German counterparts Bayern Munich, Italy’s Fiorentina and Romania’s Steaua Bucharest.
   Lyon coach Claude Puel says he foresees an even, hence, tough group.
   ‘Romanian football has come on a lot and Fiorentina were semi-finalists in last season’s UEFA Cup and had a good season in Italy. We’ll have to get points pretty much everywhere.’
   Finally in Group H, record nine-time winners Real Madrid, who have flopped badly since their last success in 2002, must face Juventus, winners in 1985 and 1996, UEFA Cup holders Zenit St Petersburg and Bate Borisov of Belarus.
   Ahead of the draw, Chelsea’s Petr Cech was earlier voted top goalkeeper of last season’s competition while skipper John Terry won the defender’s accolade and Frank Lampard was named UEFA midfielder of the year to complete a club treble.
   Cristiano Ronaldo got the vote as top striker and top overall player after his 42-goal season haul. The first set of matches will be played on September 16/17.

Barcelona and Real Madrid stars united to help Spain win the European championships this summer but club allegiances now come first as Xavi, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Iker Casillas gear up for this season’s title duel.
   After back-to-back titles Real are targeting a third successive league crown for the first time since 1988 but old foes Barcelona have recruited a new manager and fresh faces in a desperate bid to prevent the hat-trick.
   Barcelona were the last side to achieve that feat – winning four championships in a row between 1990 and 1994 – and new manager Pep Guardiola was part of three of those title successes.
   Guardiola has no top-flight managerial experience having just worked with the Barca B team but Barca have loosened the purse strings with 59 million euros shelled out for Alexander Hleb and Sevilla duo Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita.
   With Puyol marshalling the defence and a creative midfield of Iniesta and Xavi, voted best player at the Euro 2008, Barca look strong particularly when you see their frontline of Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and the mesmerising Lionel Messi.
   ‘This guy Messi is a football god,’ said Brazilian Alves. ‘If he can continue with this desire and mentality he will go down in history.’
   Messi was on duty with Argentina at the Olympics so should be sharp for the season’s opener at promoted Numancia on Sunday.
   Real hoped Portuguese wing wizard Ronaldo would be their answer to Messi but Manchester United refused to play ball and midfielder Rafael van der Vaart is their only major signing from SV Hamburg for 13 million euros.
   Van der Vaart can expect to start as compatriot Wesley Sneijder is out for three months with knee ligament damage.
   Real had the best defence and attack in the league last season and Schuster will hope his ageing strike force of Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy – who weighed in with a combined 34 league goals last season – can deliver the goods once again.
   ‘The Champions League is the big aim but obviously we want a third successive title,’ said Schuster.
   Real, conquerors of Valencia in the Super Cup last Sunday, travel to Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday – a venue where they have not won since the 1991/92 season.
   It is difficult to look past Real and Barca for the title but Villarreal could be considered a dark horse after they claimed the runner-up spot last season – the highest finish in the club’s history – although coach Manuel Pellegrini remains cautious.
   ‘There is no point putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure,’ said Pellegrini. ‘There are teams like Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid that have much bigger squads.’
   Villarreal’s best piece of business was hanging on to the in-demand midfielder Marcos Senna who starred for Spain at the European championships.
   Villarreal travel to Osasuna on Sunday expecting three points against a side that struggled to beat the drop last season.
   After failing to qualify for the Champions League, Sevilla were forced to sell Keita, Alves and Christian Poulsen in the summer and the trio will be sorely missed.
   Aldo Duscher has come in from Racing Santander and the Argentine midfielder will face his former club in Sevilla’s colours on Sunday.
   Winning the Kings Cup could not disguise a torrid campaign for Valencia last time out - they finished 10th in the league - and manager Unai Emery has been snapped up from Almeria.
   The club have been passive in the transfer market but have managed to hold on to striker David Villa – top scorer at Euro 2008 – and the creative Daniel Silva.
   Manchester United reportedly bid 20 million pounds for Silva but he has signed a bumper new contract at Valencia until 2013.
   Valencia start at home on Saturday night against a Real Mallorca side that have lost Daniel Guiza – top-scorer in the Spanish league last season – to Turkish side Fenerbahce.
   Atletico Madrid have spent the summer strengthening their suspect defence with Czech international Tomas Ujfalusi, Dutchman John Heitinga and veteran French goalkeeper Gregory Coupet.
   With Argentine star Kun Aguero and Diego Forlan in attack goals should be forthcoming although Atletico would do well to top last season’s fourth-placed finish.

Frank Lampard has warned Chelsea’s Premier League rivals that the Blues’ combination of style and substance is potent enough to regain the title.
   Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side demonstrated their flair with an opening weekend rout of Portsmouth and proved they aren’t afraid to mix it as well by grinding out a hard-fought victory at Wigan.
   Scolari will sample the frentic atmosphere of a London derby for the first time on Sunday when Tottenham visit Stamford Bridge, but Lampard has already seen enough to know Chelsea can cope with any challenge.
   ‘It has been very good, with two different performances,’ Lampard told Chelsea’s website. ‘Against Portsmouth I think everyone sat up and took notice of that, and Wigan was one where we had to dig in a bit more against a very physical team, who I think will cause a lot of problems for teams at home this year.
   ‘I think it’s important to take a lot from both games. Not every game in the Premier League is easy to play great, flowing football in.’
   Chelsea’s bid to end Manchester United’s two-year reign as champions is being driven by the most formidable midfield in Europe and Lampard has been blown away by the contribution from Deco, a pre-season signing from Barcelona.
   ‘Deco has been brilliant,’ he said. ‘Against Portsmouth he scored a great goal and then the free-kick he hit the other day (at Wigan) was a match-winning moment, it’s what you want players like him in your team for. I expect more of the same from him.’
   Liverpool will aim to stay level with leaders Chelsea when they travel to Aston Villa on Sunday.
   Rafa Benitez’s side have won both their league matches so far and reached the group stages of the Champions League in midweek.
   Alvaro Arbeloa believes
   the Reds are reaping the rewards of the fierce competition for places that ensures every player has to maintain peak form.
   ‘You can never say that you are a first choice at this football club,’ Arbeloa told LFC Magazine. ‘If you start to think like that then you can just about guarantee that you are about to lose your place.
   ‘It’s a big fight to get into
   the team, it’s a bigger fight
   to stay there.’
   After three lacklustre performances to open the season, Arsenal were reinvigorated by the return of Cesc Fabregas in their midweek win over FC Twente.
   Arsene Wenger’s side, who host Newcastle today, dispatched the Dutch team with the kind of fluid display that has been their hallmark for the last two years.
   Gael Clichy, the club’s French left-back, insists the Gunners have a duty to win playing that kind of entertaining football every week.
   ‘Of course we have to win things. That is the main objective - to win something this year,’ Clichy said.
   ‘But if we can do it the way we play, it is even better because football is to entertain people and to take pleasure and that’s what we are doing at Arsenal.
   ‘Fulham showed us last weekend that you have to be up for every game, game after game because English football is so different than many other football in Europe.
   ‘That was a big blow and we learn from this and hopefully it won’t happen again.’
   Elsewhere, Bolton manager Gary Megson faces his former club West Bromwich Albion desperate for some good news after after a shock League Cup exit against Northampton and serious injuries to Johan Elmander and Matt Taylor this week.
   Shaun Wright-Phillips should make his second debut for Manchester City at Sunderland on Sunday after
   the England winger rejoined Mark Hughes’s side from Chelsea.

Jose Mourinho has revealed he turned down an opportunity to leave Chelsea after their FA Cup final victory over Manchester United last year and admits he regrets deciding not to accept the offer after his relationship with the London club broke down just a few months later.
   Mourinho, now the manager of Inter Milan, spent last season on the sidelines after leaving Stamford Bridge by mutual consent in September - just four months after choosing not to turn his back on the Premier League club.
   Now the 45-year-old admits he wishes he had chosen to take up the opportunity to leave the Blues after their 1-0 win over the Red Devils at Wembley in May 2007 as he could have left the club on a high.
   Speaking in a video released by Ford’s FeelFootball.com, Mourinho said: ‘If there is a moment in my career where I regret a decision it was clearly the day after the FA Cup final - when my agent told me ‘Club X’ want you tomorrow and I told him no, I love it here and I don’t want to go, I want to stay.
   ‘That’s the moment I regret. After that day, after that final, I should (have left) Chelsea and I would have the chance in Wembley to say goodbye to the fans and to say goodbye to English football. So that’s a moment I regret because the next season lasted only a couple of months.’
   Mourinho led Chelsea to their first league title in 50 years in 2005 and built a strong rapport with the fans during three seasons at the club.
   The Portuguese retained the Premier League crown in 2006 and he secured two League Cup trophies before winning his last piece of silverware with their FA Cup victory last year.
   His relationship with Chelsea broke down last year and he left Stamford Bridge in mid-September 2007 but Mourinho has declared his ‘love’ for the club.
   He told Ford’s FeelFootball.com: ‘I only have friends in Chelsea and I have problems with nobody - but if I stayed there one, two, three, four more weeks probably in this moment I wouldn’t say this.
   ‘I love that club, I’m in the history of that club and I left
   the club in the right moment to feel like that and to say that honestly.
   ‘So it was the right moment to do it. But clearly if I regret one decision in my career it’s that decision of staying in Chelsea not one more season, staying in Chelsea a few more months.’

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United won’t be favourites to win the Champions League this season.
   Ferguson’s side, who lifted the trophy after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea last season, begin their defence of the European crown next month.
   The Premier League club have been drawn in a relatively comfortable group with Scottish champions Celtic, Spain’s Villarreal and Danish club Aalborg.
   But Ferguson believes the presence of the likes of Inter Milan and Barcelona in the competition means United cannot be regarded as the leading contenders to triumph in next year’s final in Rome.
   ‘It is a great challenge for us, ‘said the United boss. ‘First of all we have to progress from the group stage and to do that you need 10 points to qualify.
   ‘The tournament really kicks off in February. That is when it gets exciting, the one-off knock-out stages.
   ‘I think we have a squad to challenge the best but you cannot think of yourselves as favourites when you see teams like Barcelona, Inter Milan and Juventus – all great names.
   ‘We will make sure we apply ourselves in the right way, then we will have a chance.’
   Ferguson insists the Champions League is getting tougher and used Standard Liege as an example.
   The Belgians ran Liverpool close and he said, ‘There is a good standard at this level.
   ‘Standard Liege were a surprise to me because Belgian football has not been that great for some years now. But it was an excellent performance against Liverpool.’

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has decided to keep Chelsea target Robinho at the club, a Spanish sports newspaper said Friday.
   ‘He is staying in Madrid and there is no possibility of going back on that,’ Calderon said, according to AS.
   Calderon made the decision after a plea by Real’s German coach Bernd Schuster, who is counting on the Brazilian for this season.
   Chelsea’s Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has been keen to tie up a 27 million pounds (33.7 million euros) swoop for Robinho before the transfer window shuts on Monday and reports have said the deal would go through before the weekend.
   AS published pictures of Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon and the Robinho’s agent, Wagner Ribeiro, leaving a restaurant near Real’s Santiago-Bernabeu stadium Wednesday night.
   Real this week were unsuccessful in signing two strikers as possible replacements for Robinho - Santi Cazorla from Villarreal and David Villa from Valencia.
   Real also failed in their bid to recruit Manchester United’s Portuguese playmaker Cristiano Ronaldo.
   The Spanish league season starts this weekend, and the transfer window closes on Monday.

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA’s European Club Footballer of the Year on Thursday after scoring 42 goals last season including eight in the Champions League.
   The award was made during the draw for this year’s group phase at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
   Ronaldo was also named as the forward of the year for helping United win the European Cup for the third time.
   Three Chelsea players
   who were in the side beaten by United in the Moscow
   final in May, won awards. John Terry was named as defender of the year, Petr Cech goalkeeper of the year and Frank Lampard midfielder of the year.

UEFA president Michel Platini, a fierce advocate of eradicating any cheating in soccer, said
   on Thursday he had dived, simulating a foul, early in his career.
   Platini, one of the greatest players of all time and who led France to victory in the 1984 European Championship, told reporters he was determined to make all aspects of soccer as clean as possible.
   He said his plan to experiment with five officials
   at matches in a youth tournament later this season was intended to make it harder for players to simulate a fall, or dive. But he then admitted he had done it himself as a young player.
   ‘It’s more than 30 years down the road now so I can tell you,’ he said with a huge grin on his face.
   ‘It was in a match between my team Nancy and Nantes in 1975 — and I was happy to do it. I also did it once in another match, but I cannot remember which one. But that was all. Never again.
   ‘Of course we know a lot of footballers deliberately cheat, but we are not in favour of that at UEFA and we do not want to see it.
   ‘In the old days it was easier. But I think that by having two extra officials, four extra pairs of eyes watching the pitch, it will make it that much harder for players to get away with it now.’
   He also said he was delighted that all of the three clubs he had played for—Nancy, St Etienne and Juventus were taking part in European competition this season.
   ‘I hope they all do very well,’ he joked. ‘But as the president of UEFA I have to remain totally neutral.’